Before that my book of detection was of a more personal level with The People in the Photo by Hélène Gestern

Blurb

The chance discovery of a newspaper image from 1971 sets two people on the path to learning the disturbing truth about their parents’ pasts.
Parisian archivist Hélène takes out a newspaper advert calling for information about her mother, who died when she was three, and the two men pictured with her in a photograph taken at a tennis tournament at Interlaken in 1971. Stéphane, a Swiss biologist living in Kent, responds: his father is one of the people in the photo. Letters and more photos pass between them as they embark on a journey to uncover the truth their parents kept from them. But will the relics of the past fill the silences left by the players?
Winner of fifteen literary awards, this dark yet touching drama deftly explores the themes of blame and forgiveness, identity and love.
Hélène Gestern lives and works in Nancy, France. The People in the Photo is her first novel.NetGalley

Next I plan to read one of the books that has been languishing on my kindle for far too long; In Too Deep by Bea Davenport has been sitting patiently since 21 July 2013.

Blurb

‘… The window’s so small I can’t see what happens next. But what I do know is that Kim is dead. And I know this, too that I helped to kill her. Kim, my lovely, only, best friend.’
Five years ago Maura fled life in Dowerby and took on a new identity, desperately trying to piece her life back together and escape the dark clouds that plagued her past. But then a reporter tracks her down, and persuades her to tell her story, putting her own life in danger once again.
Layer upon layer of violence and deceit make up the full picture for Maura to see and the reporter to reveal. Hidden secrets are uncovered that have been left to settle, for far too long. But in life some things can’t be left unsaid, and eventually the truth will out. Whatever the consequences. Goodreads

I loved The People in the Photo and its style of letters and corresponence and the slow unravelling of the mystery surrounding her mother and those people in the photo!

I am reading Paint Your Wife by Lloyd Jones a delightful novel about a small community, who, when their men went off to war, called upon Alma, (a man who’d been involved in an accident and didn’t go to war), to help with the rat problem. Not wanting payment, he asked them to sit for him, and painted their portraits. Now he’s exhibiting them on vacant shop windows 40 years later and its generating a lot of interest.

Now the men are beginning to take drawing classes, Alma teaches them to see their wives – so loving it, deliberately slow reading!

Oh that does sound very good and I’m quite taken with slower more thoughtful reading this year – one for me to check out!
I do like books made up of letters and yes, The People in the Photo was well executed.

I really recommend the first in this series by Isabelle Grey – Good Girls Don’t Die, she really has bought something special to the genre – I will be reviewing The People in the Photo later this week. Thank you so much for visiting 🙂

Oh, thanks for letting me know that – I’ll definitely make sure to read the first book first then. 🙂 I’ll look out for your review of The People in the Photo, I’m really interested to know your thoughts on it.

I’ve been hearing such good things about The People in the Photo, Cleo! It’s been on my radar for some time. I look forward to seeing what you think of it. The others look good, too; you’re having a good reading week!

All of these sound like books I’d enjoy. Not a surprise. I’m reading another cozy mystery, PANE AND SUFFERING, about a glass shop in Florida. Good so far. And I’m listening to Kate Morton’s THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN and loving it. What a great book! I’m making excuses to listen for longer and longer. LOL

Glad your cosy is working well – I read The Forgotten Garden quite a few years ago – if you look closely you can see my copy on my bookshelf header – I loved it very much indeed so I quite understand why you are making those excuses!

I love the sound of The People in the Photo, especially because I do my family tree on and off and have loads of photos where I’d love to know who’s who. I read In Too Deep not long after it came out…I don’t remember a thing about it though. Hope you enjoy.

I have worked on my family tree too and you’re right it would be lovely to know about the ‘extras’ in the pictures. I really enjoyed Bea Davenport’s This Little Piggy which I read after I’d purchased this one so I feel like I’m catching up!

I like the sound of The People in the Photo and it’s been a while since I read anything in translation (and the last thing I read was a French translation and it was bad… so maybe it would be a good idea to read something which has won so many awards!).

I keep missing this post in my timeline on Wednesday, although I follow you religiously. Mind you, Wednesdays are always extremely busy days, with children in school only until 11:30. I keep hearing such good things about The People in the Photo but still haven’t read it. As for having books since 2013 on TBR list – well, I believe I have some since 2012!
I’ve just finished reading The Uninvited by Liz Jensen, a really chilling vision of the end of the world via children. Liz is coming to the conference this weekend and will be teaching a workshop on ‘Creating Suspense’ which I am attending. Judging by this book, she is very good at it!
I’m currently reading Sara Gran’s ‘City of the Dead’, a detective story set in post-Katrina New Orleans – again, because Sara Gran will be coming to the Lyon Crime Festival in April.
Next read: some poetry, I think, for a change. Mary Oliver’s Felicity is waiting patiently.

I get gradually worse with keeping up as the week goes on Marina! As you can tell I’m answering Wednesday’s posts on Saturday! I do hope the conference goes well, sounds like you have a master at suspense to listen to.

I am reading The Last Weynfeldt by Martin Suter. Been meaning to read this author for a while…It’s about an art evaluator in Switzerland. Just finished All Things Cease to Appear which was a really complex tale of murder, marriage and small town life.